Conveyer device



April 16, 1935.

c. G. OHARA QQNVEYER DEVICE Filed March 6, 1933 0. M: G 07-154mm, wg gPatented Apr. 16, 1935 v CONVE-YER DEVICE Charles G. OHara, Norristown,Pa, assignor to Norristcwn Foundry Company, Inc., l lorr s town, Pa; acorporation of Pennsylvania Application March'6, 1933, Serial N0.659,676

5Claims. (01;. 19 -141) This invention is particularly designed forinclusion in automatic stokers of the general char-. acter described andclaimed in my copending application Serial No. 618,148 filed June 20,19%, for Letters Patent of the United States. 6 In such stokers,the'ashes. are elevated in a casing inclosing an endless chainwithbucket conveyers which deliver the ashes to a lateral opening in thecasing through which the ashesare discharged into acan orother removablereceptacle. It was found-in practice that such receptacles are sometimesleft in such relation to the discharge opening from the conveyer casingthat the ashes piled up ontop of the receptacle and obstructed saidopenings Therefore, in the construction shown in said copendingapplication, I provided a Y-fitting in connection with the-dischargeopening.

from the conveyer casing adapted to discharge the ashesinto twoadjoining cans or receptacles, andprovided that Y-fitting with a safety'open-, ingand a door for the same so that if andiwhen thenormaldischarge opening from the conveyer casing became obstructed byashes owing to the neglect of the operator to, remove, the can or cans,the pressure of the ashes upon said safety door would open thelatter-and discharge the surplus ashes aside from they cans. However, inpractical experience with I that construction .and arrangement, I findthat incases of neglect to. remove the ash receptacles at the propertime during the continued operation of the stoker, the asheswhichaccumulate in the. Y-fitting partly. fall back into'the conveyercasing, thus. imposing a loss of energy in therepeated uplifting of suchsurplus ashes, and that if the ashesbecome damp,

as frequently. occurs from wheather conditions,

the force ofgravity of the ashes against said safety door issometimesinsufiicient to open the latter because of the coherence of the moistashes, and the 'oonveyer casing becomes clogged with ashes-from top tobottom.

Therefore, thepurpose and effect, of my present invention is to providemeans to prevent the return of ashes into said conveyer casing throughthe opening from which theyhave beengdischarga ed toward the receptacleand if" surplus ashes accumulate outside of said dischargeopeningb'etween it an'dthe safety door, to impose 'upon such surplusashes mechanicallpressure in addition to the gravitative forcethereof toinsure the.

opening of .the' safety door. After considerable experimentatiomlhave'beenableto devise a sin gle movable'element to accomplish both ofthose 3 purposes, said element consisting 'ofa single casting suspendedfrom a pivot at its top, havinga deflecting plate at its lower end and alever arm extending from said pivot to said plate of such configurationas to be encounteredby the outer edge of. each of the buckets as thelatter successively approach said discharge opening in'the 'conveyercasing with theefiect of oscillating said casting'upon its pivot andimposing pressure from the buckets through 'said lever and deflectingplate upon the ashes outsideof the latter.

:My invention includes the various novel fea-' tures' of constructionand arrangement hereinafter more definitely specified. A

In said drawing, Fig. I is a fragmentary elevation of the discharge sideof the convieyer casing. Fig. II is a vertical-sectional View taken onthe line II, II, in Fig. Ithrough said casing and I its'appurtenances. H

In said figures,-the conveyer casing l is cone veniently inclinedupwardly-and; outwardly from the ash elevator base of the stoker'inwhich the ashes are deposited. Said casingv 'incloses the endlessconveyer'chain 2 whichis-conven iently hung upon-sprocket wheels 3 and 4respectively provided with shafts 5' and 5 at'the bottom andtop of saidcasing.- Sai'dshaft .5 is

provided with any" suitable .means to turn-it to progress the chain, inthedirection of the arrow indicated in Fig. II. Said shaft 6 isconveniently mounted in the inverted'U-shaped bearing frame 8 whichis'mounted for adjustment, in'the direction of length of-the chain, inthe slideway ii-"in the elevator casing. I and is continually stressedupwardly by the spring 'HL indi cated in Fig. II, said spring llencircles the plunger l2, whichiis rigidly connected with said bearingframe 8 and bears at its lower end upon the-removablecover "i 3 of saidelevator casing vide said discharge opening with the Y- fitting- 2-2 inconnection with said casing l and adapted to discharge the ashes throughits pendent branches 23 and 2t into'adjoining cans or receptacles. Asindicated in Fig. I, said branches may be provided with respectiveflexible conduits 25 and 26 for extension to said receptacles. SaidY-fitting 22 has the safety opening 21 above and between said brancheswith any suitable means, for instance, the studs 29, for supporting asafety door 38 which normally closes said safety opening and which ispreferably connected with said Y-fitting by the flexible connector 3| sothat said door will not be lost in the discharged ashes, if and whensaid door is dislodged from its supporting studs to permit the ashes tobe discharged through said safety opening aside from the receptacles towhich the ashes are normally discharged through said branches.

The lever 32 has its upper end fulcrumed upon the pivot 33 which isconveniently a bolt extending through said casing I, having the head 34exterior to one side of said casing and r the nut 35 exterior to theother side of said casing. Said lever has the deflecting platen at itslower end extending obliquely adjacent the lower end of saiddischarge-opening 2|, and the counterbalance Weight 39 on said lever isso proportioned and located as to normally maintain said deflectingplate in the position shown in Fig. II with the inner cam edge M of saidlever extending in the path of the outer edges of said buckets 20. Inthat normal position, said deflecting plate insures that all of theashes dumped from said buckets shall be deflected outwardly through saiddischarge opening 2| instead of partly falling back within said casingI. Consequently, said lever is adapted to be encountered by said bucketsin succession with the efl'ect of thrusting it outwardly through saiddischarge opening 21 and against any surplus ashes which may accumulatein said Y-fitting, with the effect of imposing upon such surplus ashesmechanical pressure in addition to the gravitativerforce thereof toinsure the opening of said safety door 30 under the abnormal conditionsabove contemplated.

Although I find it convenient to provide said discharge opening withthe. Y-fitting above de scribed. having two branches for discharge ofashes into respectively separate receptacles, the construction andarrangement above described would be eificacious forthe purposecontemplated if said fitting had'but one branch; or, if .there werenofitting exterior to said discharge opening, said lever would beoperative to insure the deflection of the conveyed ashes outwardly fromsaid casing I through said discharge opening 2|.

Therefore, I do notdesire to limit myself to the precise details ofconstruction and arrangement herein set forth, as it is obvious thatvarious modifications may be made therein without departing from theessential features of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: 1 V

1. In a conveyer device, the combination with a casing having adischarge outlet at one end thereof; of an endless chain conveyermounted in said casing; means for supporting and driving said chain,including sprocket wheels in the end bights thereof; a series of bucketson said chain for dumping the material conveyed throughsaid dischargeopening; a lever having a fulcrum at one.

end and a deflecting plate at the other end; means for supporting saidfulcrum in said casing with said deflecting plate adjacent the lower endof said discharge opening; a counterbalance weight on said lever for,normally maintaining said deflecting plate in a predetermined positionwith respect to said discharge opening and the path of traverse of thebuckets on said chain; said lever having a cam surface presented towardsaid chain and adapted to be encountered by said buckets in succession;a discharge fitting on said casing in registry with said dischargeopening and having a safety door in the outer wall thereof; wherebyoperation of said chain causes the material discharged by said bucketsto be duflected from said casing through said opening, and thesuccessive contact of the buckets with said lever cam intermittentlythrusts said deflecting plate through said discharge opening and permitsit to be returned to normal position by said counterweight; and saidsafety door is thrust open to discharge exterior to said fitting anysurplus conveyed material detained in said fitting.

2. In a conveyer device, the combination with a casing having adischarge opening at one end thereof; of an endless chain conveyermounted in said'casing; means for supporting and driving said chain; aseries of buckets on said chain for dumping the material conveyedthrough said discharge opening; a lever having a fulcrum at one end anda deflecting plate at the other end; means for supporting said fulcrumin said casing with said deflecting plate adjacent the lower end of saiddischargeopening; means on said lever for normally maintaining saiddeflecting plate in a predetermined position with respect to saiddischarge opening and the path of traverse of the buckets on said chain;said lever being adapted to be encountered by said buckets insuccession; a discharge fitting on said casing in registry with saiddischarge opening and having a safety door; whereby operation of saidchain causes the material dischargedby said buckets to be deflected fromsaid casing through said opening, and the successive contact of thebuckets with said lever intermittently thrusts said deflecting platethrough said discharge opening and permits it to be returned to normalposition by said counterweight; and said safety door is thrust open todischarge exterior to said fitting any surplus conveyed material held insaid fitting.

3. In a conveyer device, the combination with a casing having adischarge opening at one end thereof and a safety opening in spacedrelation with said dischargeopening; of an endless chain conveyermounted in said casing; means for supporting and driving said chain; aseries of buckets on said chain for dumping the material conveyedthrough said discharge opening; a lever having a fulcrum at one end anda deflecting plate at the other end; means for supporting said fulcrumin said casing with said deflecting plate adjacent the lower end of saiddischarge opening and in cooperative relation with said safety opening;means onsaidlever for normally maintaining said deflecting plate in apredetermined position with respect to said discharge opening and thepath of traverse of the buckets on said chain; said lever being adaptedto be encountered by said buckets in succession; whereby operation ofsaid chain causes the material discharged by said buckets to bedeflected from said casing through said opening, and thrustssaiddeflecting plate through said opening to discharge materialtherefrom, through said safety opening when the material accumulates inthe space between said discharge opening and safety opening.

4. In a conveyer device, the combination with a casing having adischarge outlet and a safety opening in spaced relation with saidoutlet; of an endless chain conveyer mounted in said casing; a series ofbuckets on said chain for dumping the material conveyed through saidoutlet; a lever having a fulcrum at one endand a deflecting plate at theother end; means for supporting said fulcrum in said casing with saiddeflecting plate extending across'said outlet and in cooperativerelation with said safety opening; and a counterbalance weight on saidlever for normally maintaining said deflecting plate in position todeflect said material through said outlet; said lever having a camelement presented toward'said chain and adapted to be encountered bysaid buckets in succession; to oscillate said deflecting plate in saidoutlet, and discharge material therefrom, through said safety openingwhen the ma terial accumulates in the space between said outlet andsafety opening.

5. In a conveyer device, the combination with a casing having adischarge outlet and a safety opening in spaced relation with saidoutlet; of an endless chain conveyermounted in said casing; a series ofbuckets on said chain for dumping the material conveyed through saidoutlet; a lever having a fulcrum at one end and a deflecting plate atthe other end; means for supporting said fulcrum in said casing withsaid deflecting plate extending across said outlet and in cooperativerelation with said safety opening; and means on said lever for normallymaintaining said deflecting plate in position to deflect said materialthrough said outlet; said lever having a cam element presented towardsaid chain and adapted to be encountered by said buckets in succession;to oscillate said deflecting plate in said outlet, and dischargematerial therefrom, through'said safety opening when the materialaccumulates in the space between said outlet and safety opening.

, CHARLES G. OHARA.

